Sixteen battalions of the regiment saw active service in France and Flanders, Italy, Gallipoli, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and Salonika, losing a total of 8,100 men killed and winning 72 different battle honours.

In the latter half of the 20th century, the regiment was reduced to a single regular battalion and completed tours of duty around the world, including Germany, Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and the Middle East, as well as in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

[10] In March 1801, the 28th Regiment formed part of the British expeditionary force that landed at Aboukir Bay in Egypt to oppose Napoleon's Army of the East.

The name arose from an incident in 1764, when members of the regiment allegedly slashed off part of the ear of a Montreal magistrate who had been harassing soldiers stationed in the city after the Seven Years' War.

The regiment added 4 new battle honours to its colours: "Defence of Ladysmith"; "Relief of Kimberley"; "Paardeberg"; and "South Africa, 1899–1902"; the last of which was also awarded to the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Battalions.

In July, the division was allocated to Operation Hush, a planned seaborne invasion that was later cancelled, and the only significant action the 1st Battalion saw in 1917 was in November, on the last day of the Second Battle of Passchendaele.

[34][35][44][45] In July 1918, the 27th Division was transferred to XII Corps south-west of Dojran, and the capture of the Roche Noire salient on 1 September, at a cost of 89 casualties, was the last action of the 2nd Battalion in the war.

In February 1917, the 48th Division moved to positions opposite Péronne, and the territorials saw action in March and April during the general advance that followed the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line.

During the latter, the battalion was held up for nearly four hours until Private Francis George Miles went forward alone and knocked out two enemy machine-gun positions, for which action he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC).

At the end of March, 10 days of fighting, retreating and digging-in near St. Quentin reduced the 2/5th Battalion to 150 men during Operation Michael, the opening phase of the German spring offensive.

In August, the battalion attempted to force a bridgehead across a stream in Nieppe Forest, west of Merville, and fought on 1 September during the advance to the River Lys.

A German counter-attack regained the eastern half of the village, and the 8th Glosters suffered 302 casualties when it fought alongside the 10th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment to help retake it.

Later the same month, during the Battle of Pozières, the battalion made two unsuccessful attacks against the German line east of the village which together cost it 374 casualties, among whom were Carton de Wiart and his successor, Major Lord A.G. Thynne, both wounded.

Unable to recapture the village, the battalion blocked any further enemy progress until the morning of 23 March, when German forces broke through on the left and threatened to outflank it.

[34][35][77] The battalion went into the line in March, where the men's first task was to raise the height of the firing step,[78] and its first significant action came on 8 June, when it conducted a large raid south-east of Neuve Chapelle.

Although his bombing party were driven back, Second-Lieutenant Hardy Falconer Parsons remained and prevented the enemy from entering the trenches, for which act he was posthumously awarded the VC.

The 1st Battalion completed tours of duty in Ireland, where it captured the Irish republican Seán Moylan, and Germany, which counted as a home posting, and returned to the UK in 1923.

[112] With so many of its men languishing in POW camps, the 2nd Battalion was rebuilt and served in home defence at various locations around the UK, finally ending up in 1943 on the Isle of Wight before being assigned to a more active role.

[113] As the UK braced itself for Operation Sea Lion, the German plan to invade, a number of home defence battalions were raised under the regiment's colours.

It spearheaded the assault on Le Havre eight days later, and it was the first British unit to enter the city's fort, on 12 September, capturing 1,500 prisoners and much beer for the loss during the battle of 40 men killed and wounded.

[118] The Glosters arrived on the Arakan Peninsula (modern day Rakhine) in February 1944, were part of the relief effort in the Battle of the Admin Box, and fought in dispersed, company-scale actions in the capture of the Mayu tunnels and Hambone Hill.

The division went into reserve in May and was airlifted to Myitkyina in July, transferring to the Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC) under the American General Joseph Stilwell.

[125][126] Early in April, the 29th Brigade, supported by the 45th Field Regiment RA and under command of the United States (US) 3rd Infantry Division, took up scattered positions on a 9-mile (14 km) front in Line Kansas along the Imjin river.

[127] The 657 men of the 1st Battalion's fighting component, supported by C Troop 170th Heavy Mortar Battery RA, were thinly spread on the brigade's left flank in positions set back some 2,000 yards (1,800 m) from the river, guarding a ford near the village of Choksong.

[132][133] There was a two-mile (three-kilometre) gap between the Glosters and the 1st Battalion Royal Northumberland Fusiliers on their right, and on their left the 12th Regiment of the South Korean (ROK) 1st Infantry Division was one mile (two kilometres) away.

[135] At 22:00, a 17-man patrol from C Company in position on the river bank, supported by the guns of the 45th Field Regiment, engaged the leading Chinese troops three times as they attempted to cross the ford.

He drove back along route 5Y, through an ambush and past a group of F echelon troops lining the road under Chinese guard, eventually reaching the brigade HQ.

[141][e] With the Glosters' position still vital to the integrity of Line Kansas, Carne received orders at 07:00 on 24 April from the 3rd Division commander, General Soule, to stand his ground.

Lieutenant Philip Curtis, attached from the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, was posthumously awarded the VC for his actions during the attempt to retake Castle Hill.

It lined the route of King George VI's funeral procession on 15 February 1952, and it was presented with its first colours at a ceremony in Gloucester on 26 April, the two regular battalions having retained those of their predecessor regiments up to that point.